(Bloomberg) -- Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. said an underground sit-in at one of its South African mines had ended without concession and more than 2,000 protesters had returned to the surface.

The incident at the Bafokeng Rasimone mine in South Africa’s North West province began on Monday and involved 2,205 employees. It was over by Wednesday afternoon said Johan Theron, a spokesman for the Johannesburg-based company. 

He said that the company didn’t grant any concessions to end the sit-in and the return of the workers to the surfaced had just been a matter of time after “sanity” prevailed. 

The company said the motivation relates to “several misinterpretations and misunderstandings brought to the fore by the recent change in ownership at Impala Bafokeng,” including the view that accumulated pension-fund balances can be paid out to employees and that tax applied to a profit-share bonuses could be refunded. 

“With time and with conversations, it because clear to people they were asking for stuff that was unreasonable and unlawful and beyond what we can do,” Theron said, noting that the mine has no control on the rules governing either pensions or taxes. 

He declined to say how much the mine estimates the disruptions may have cost Impala’s operations.

National Union of Mineworkers Deputy General Secretary Mpho Phakedi said that the sit-in was not an NUM leadership-approved action and that some of those who took part appeared to have been compelled to stay underground against their will.

Illegal underground protests and copycat unlawful actions at mining operations in South Africa have become more prevalent in recent months, causing disruptions in the broader mining industry, Implats said. The action at Bafokeng Rasimone is the fourth such protest since October.

Read More: Labor Dispute Keeps 540 South African Miners Stuck Underground

Last week, about 500 employees were underground at Gold One International Ltd.’s Modder East operations southeast of Johannesburg, some of whom were held hostage and tortured, according to City Press.

“These things are high profile,” said Theron. “If you’re dealing with an issue on a mine that’s not getting any traction, how do you amplify your voice and your cause? You do something like this.”

(Updates with comment from miners’ union in seventh paragraph.)

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